Step Inside

Each area within the Old Customs House has many layers of history that reflect the diverse activities of the customs officials.

Stories

Merchants and customs agents gather in the recently completed Long Room, 1876.Source: State Library of Victoria

Long Room

The Long Room's dramatic scale and decorations emphasised the importance of the Customs department, in the same way a ballroom in a private home advertised the owner's wealth and status.

The Weekly Times applauded the design:

'This Long Room is a hall of noble proportions and is finished in a style which will secure unbounded admiration from all whose business leaves them free to appreciate the beautiful in art.'

During the Depression, the Federal Government announced plans for a new tax on imports to protect local jobs. Import agents flocked to the Customs House to clear their goods before any new tax was introduced.Source: State Library of Victoria

Long Room

The Long Room was the heart of Melbourne's trade for over 100 years.

It was a noisy, bustling place, where merchants and customs agents came to pay duty on imported goods. On busy days, up to 30 customs officers and 100 customers would be processing forms.

Immigration Office

The Immigration Office occupied this section of the building.

Customs oversaw the arrival and departure of immigrants, both in the building and on the wharves. Its officers inspected luggage and validated documents, determining whether immigrants matched the identity papers they carried. The Passenger Act was implemented in the 1850s to prevent unscrupulous captains from overcrowding ships to increase profits.

Customs also enforced a range of immigration restrictions. During the gold rush, officers collected the poll tax from Chinese immigrants. From 1901 they administered various parts of the White Australia Policy, including the discriminatory Dictation Test.

Bond Store

Bluestone vaults on the ground floor of the Customs House housed the Bond Store.

Imported goods were held in bond until customs duty had been paid. As Melbourne's trade grew, privately owned bond stores sprang up around the port, supervised by customs officers.

The vaults also held the evidence of attempts to breach the law and evade customs regulations - opium and whisky smuggled into Port Phillip on a recent ship; or illegal distilling equipment seized in a raid.

In the past three years there has been a tremendous increase in the flow of objectionable literature. Recent prosecutions in Britain have underlined the scope of the trade in crime, sex and brutality.

It is so big that here they are banning a dozen books each day.

In each State they come to the local man who looks them over. If he thinks there is a case against them, their offences are noted and they're sent to Canberra. There the Literature Censorship Board, headed by Dr L.H. Allen, M.A., Ph.D., pass judgment. Even then, if the importers want to appeal, they can take their case to the Appeal Censor, Sir Robert Garran, who is a G.C.M.G, a Q.C., an M.A., and an LLD.

Many do get through - in first-class mail, which is impossible to police. Once the original has been copied and republished here, the Commonwealth is powerless to act.

The detective magazines coming in are mostly American and deal in great detail with crimes of sexual depravity, brutality and passion. All are banned here, but some still get through the screen.

Several recent Australian crimes, says Mr Hammett, are models of cases described in these magazines - he is positive some of our local misfits have got their ideas from the American masters.

Every book is not read right through - that would be physically impossible.

"We work it this way", said Mr Hammett picking up a magazine from his desk. It was a private eye story, full of boots in the face, bullets in the belly, and girls on the couch.

"I flip through it first, just like this. I see the publishers name - well known for this type of book - see a few objectionable paragraphs and decide if it's suspect."

"Then I go through it more thoroughly, noting the pages giving the greatest offence."

Watching the flood of material hasn't completely dulled Mr Hammett's love of books. But it has taken the edge off it.

He still reads a great deal, but he can't stand fiction. The private eyes have done that to him.

Sun Week-End Magazine, 20 March 1954

Article detail 'Tasters in Chief', The Sun, 1954 Source: State Library of Victoria

Theatrette

Report by Lyle Turnbull, 'TASTERS IN CHIEF - THE CUSTOMS STORY'

'Looking after films is the job of Mr Les Hillier, a quietly-spoken Deputy Film Censor, who wears glasses and has probably seen more films than any other man in Melbourne.

He sees them all day, every day, in the department's theatrette.

Millions of feet a year pass through his projector, mostly innocuous, some so filthy it startles even him. And he's seen a great many pornographic films.

There is a well-organised trade in such works of dubious art - once smuggled ashore they are shown at private screenings where you may pay up to five guineas a seat for the privilege.

The films come from Europe and North America. (Some of the US films are even in colour.) Most of them are technically excellent, as well-made as any main feature attraction.

The penalties for smuggling them ashore are severe - but there is always someone willing to risk it. The last spools of pornographic film were found in the shoulder pads of a passenger's suit.

The smuggler who does declare his films usually tries to fool the censors by splicing a long section of harmless film in front of his main work. "Look at this one," said Mr Hillier, switching out the lights and feeding a film into a projector.

It began so chastely it was a bore. Then, where a new film had been spliced on, the pornography began.

"They think if the first few feet are all right, we won't bother to view it at all."

But they do. Every foot is seen by the censors.

"People say if this is going to corrupt the country, why don't they corrupt me?" Mr Hillier, we can only agree, is not the corrupted type.

"All I can say is, I think I'm still as pure as I was ever going to be."

Film censoring standards have changed with the years. Scenes which 20 years ago would have been banned, are now acceptable - as social customs change so does censorship.'

Sun Week-End Magazine, 20 March 1954

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